Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor today to honor the legacy of Sergei Magnitsky, who was killed 15 years ago this weekend. Sergei was born in 1972 in Odessa, in Ukraine. He was brilliant. He won the physics and mathematics Olympiad when he was just 15 years old. He knew right from wrong and was willing to stand up for what he believed in. Working as a tax attorney in Moscow, he uncovered a scheme that included the theft of $230 million of taxes by Russian corrupt officials. He not only filed criminal complaints against the Russian police officers involved; he testified against them. He named names. He did what any lawyer and responsible citizen should do. He believed that individuals should be held accountable for their corrupt actions. In response, they arrested Sergei. They held him in custody for 358 days. They refused visits from his wife and mother and telephone calls with his children. They denied him medical care. They tortured him, trying to get him to recant his testimony. Most people would have given in, but Sergei refused. So they had him chained to a bed as eight guards with rubber batons beat him to death. I want to read what his colleagues wrote about him in memorial. They said that Sergei ``wasn't involved in politics. He wasn't an oligarch and he wasn't a human rights activist. He was just a highly competent professional.…”